In their summary, Dpreview concludes that the new firmware update doesn't seem to solve the appearance of the white orbs, although certain steps can be taken to reduce their appearance. A difference in result between two X10 units also leads Dpreview to conclude that the artifact is likely the result of hardware issues. But Dpreview also emphasizes that the white orbs don't occur in every shot, and that "depending on the sort of photography that you do, you may encounter the problem rarely, if ever."

Combing through our own test shots, we've found the white orbs to appear only in three out of twelve different shooting scenarios, mostly when shooting at low-light into light sources or into strong highlights. We have since updated our review of the X10 to include this issue.